Dwarf Fortress Bug Tracker - Dwarf Fortress
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IDProjectCategoryView StatusDate SubmittedLast Update
0002377Dwarf FortressDwarf Mode -- Itemspublic2010-06-19 10:332011-02-22 09:46
Reportergruftschreck 
Assigned To 
PrioritynormalSeverityminorReproducibilityalways
StatusnewResolutionopen 
PlatformOSOS Version
Product Version0.31.06 
Target VersionFixed in Version 
Summary0002377: Corpse pieces that are non-processable for ethical reasons don't disappear
DescriptionAs no report on this seems to be filed yet, here I go:

I've got a corpse outside not rotting from my first year (the fort lasts now for 7 years) and from all creatures I killed afterwards (also the most are left outside, since I've disabled refuse hauling from outside), so I assume corpses simply won't rot.

So I'm filing a bug report.
Steps To Reproducekill anything
wait a few years
corpses won't rot
Additional Informationattaching the possible quick fix tag

the world was generated with .06
TagsIntentional/Expected?
Relationships
related to 0000022closed Toady One Vermin remains don't rot 
related to 0001180confirmed Footkerchief Skeletons of sentients and tame animals can't be "butchered" into usable bones 
related to 0003350new  Cartilage never decays 
related to 0003515new  Severed limbs of living dorfs are left alone 
Attached Files
Issue History
Date ModifiedUsernameFieldChange
2010-06-19 10:33gruftschreckNew Issue
2010-06-19 10:33gruftschreckTag Attached: Probable Quick Fix
2010-06-19 10:34gruftschreckTag Attached: Intentional?
2010-06-19 10:35smjjamesNote Added: 0008678
2010-06-19 10:35gruftschreckNote Added: 0008679
2010-06-19 10:49FootkerchiefTag Detached: Intentional?
2010-06-19 10:49FootkerchiefTag Detached: Probable Quick Fix
2010-06-19 10:53FootkerchiefNote Added: 0008681
2010-06-19 10:53FootkerchiefStatusnew => resolved
2010-06-19 10:53FootkerchiefResolutionopen => no change required
2010-06-19 10:53FootkerchiefAssigned To => Footkerchief
2010-06-19 11:20FootkerchiefNote Deleted: 0008681
2010-06-19 11:22FootkerchiefAssigned ToFootkerchief =>
2010-06-19 11:22FootkerchiefStatusresolved => new
2010-06-19 11:25FootkerchiefSummarycorpses don't rod => Corpse pieces that are non-processable for ethical reasons don't disappear
2010-06-19 11:27FootkerchiefNote Added: 0008685
2010-06-19 11:27FootkerchiefTag Attached: Intentional?
2010-06-19 11:27FootkerchiefRelationship addedrelated to 0000022
2010-07-12 12:03FootkerchiefTag RenamedIntentional? => Intentional/Expected?
2010-07-20 14:25zweiNote Added: 0010744
2010-07-20 14:25zweiIssue Monitored: zwei
2010-07-20 15:24FootkerchiefRelationship addedrelated to 0001180
2010-07-20 15:26FootkerchiefNote Added: 0010751
2010-07-21 12:41zweiNote Added: 0010788
2010-08-30 04:00SyndicNote Added: 0012256
2010-08-30 06:25ChthonNote Added: 0012258
2010-08-30 12:11kwielandNote Added: 0012266
2011-02-06 15:12DwarfuResolutionno change required => open
2011-02-16 14:41jwest23Issue Monitored: jwest23
2011-02-21 21:42DwarfuRelationship addedrelated to 0003515
2011-02-22 09:20KumquatNote Added: 0015397
2011-02-22 09:46FootkerchiefRelationship addedrelated to 0003350

Notes
(0008678)
smjjames   
2010-06-19 10:35   
Could you submit a save? That would be the best way to find out whats going on.
(0008679)
gruftschreck   
2010-06-19 10:35   
with rot I mean vanish from existance, they transform to skeletons fast enaugh, though they will never rot completely.
(0008685)
Footkerchief   
2010-06-19 11:27   
If you check Toady's note at 0000022:0003429, it's only the "non-processable corpse pieces" that are supposed to disappear. Goblin skeletons etc. are theoretically processable, but the dwarves' ethics prevent it, which means that some corpse pieces that are practically non-processable are failing to disappear. At least, I think that's what's going on. Are they goblin/kobold skeletons or what?
(0010744)
zwei   
2010-07-20 14:25   
For me, it ale numerous kobbold corpses as well as ettin/giant megabeasts. I would guess goblins would have been same if they survived worldgen.

Issue here seems to be rotting: Skeletons stay intact and will not decompose to processable bones and skulls as they did originally. This means that they will not disappear but instead stay forever as "partial skeleton". If body part like head or one-bone limb that rots to single bone/skull was hacked off it is usable just fine.

Nonsentients and nonpets work with this because while skeleton also stays intact forever it can also be butchered to bones and skull. On negative side here, it has increaced workload of butchers many times because they are busy breaking up skeletons to their components.

It seems that unrotable links added to enable skeletal undead prevent mundane corpses from decomposition too.
(0010751)
Footkerchief   
2010-07-20 15:26   
zwei, 0001180 may shed some light on the problem you're describing.
(0010788)
zwei   
2010-07-21 12:41   
That is about the fact that dwarves do not butcher sapients (which is okay and working and intended i guess).

Problem here is that skeletons do not automatically decay to bones & skulls (which would be processable and able to decay to nothingness).
(0012256)
Syndic   
2010-08-30 04:00   
Just a note, I think that skeletons DO automatically decay to bones & skulls... but it just takes WAY too long. About 11 years into my fort, a goblin hand or something that was chopped off decayed into a stack of 2 <goblin name> bone. So I assume it's just an issue with tendons or cartilage or whatever keeps skeletons together rotting WAY too slowly.
(0012258)
Chthon   
2010-08-30 06:25   
I concur, I had werewolves in my fortress. On average it took about 4 years for one to decompose. By that I mean, in the 4 1/2 years of my fortress I had one arm decompose and that was it. All of the rest of the skeletons including the main body of the first are still intact.
(0012266)
kwieland   
2010-08-30 12:11   
Foot, I don't think ethics is the question here. I think the real bug here is that skeletons (all, in my experience) do not decompose into individual components, even after many game years (10+ enough?).
(0015397)
Kumquat   
2011-02-22 09:20   
This is probably in a way related to 3350, too, as I assume it is cartilage and sinew that are keeping the skeletons together; and cartilage never rots.

However there is a game design issue as well, since if cartilage would rot then it would make butchering skeletons into bones quite pointless, as by the time the corpse rotted into a skeleton there would be nothing left but bones, since there does not appear to be a way to specify rot rate to a material.

I suppose someone could test this out by adding [ROTS] to cartilage in material_template_default.txt.